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Todd Macdonald Lands at Red Cow

After his abrupt departure from Parella, the chef embarks on a new business venture with Luke Shimp.

Todd Macdonald joins Red Cow
Todd Macdonald joins Red Cow
Photo courtesy Todd Macdonald

Todd Macdonald had said that before opening a new restaurant in Minnesota he'd felt like it was time to move on from Italian food. The Minnesota born, New York trained chef had made his name at places like Bouley had last run two Italian restaurants before making the move home to Minnesota. Yet, he opened Parella in Calhoun Square along with chef and restaurantuer Michael Larson specializing in pastas and the now-menu-mandatory crudo.

Over the weekend, news broke that Macdonald had exited the kitchen at eatery, noting exciting new projects on the horizon. (He remains a "silent partner" at Parella.) Today, Luke Shimp, owner of the Red Cow restaurants shared the news that Macdonald had joined his team.

He will begin with making a few additions to the North Loop Red Cow location.  "Look for some new items with Todd's influence soon, tweaking of some and he'll have a heavy hand in our features' program across all three stores," said Shimp.

The duo are also in the early stages of working on an entirely new restaurant concept.

Red Cow is best known for its burgers, gastropubby bar fare and well-selected beer list. The first restaurant opened in the Fulton neighborhood on 50th Street in 2013, the second in St. Paul's Cathedral Hill in the summer of 2012 with the North Loop location opening last February.

Red Cow North Loop

208 North 1st Avenue, , MN 55401 (612) 238-0050 Visit Website

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